Any­one who has been fol­low­ing the run­ways this past week knows we are going chameleonic next spring with acces­sories. What does that mean exactly — do we have to buy all new baubles to work with our new dresses? Not really, and yet, maybe. While many of the neck­laces and cuffs were color coor­di­nated with the clothes, there were sev­eral design­ers who showed the same acces­sories with dif­fer­ent looks. Tory Burch was one and made a smart state­ment about using jew­elry as a start­ing off point rather than not­ing it at the fin­ish­ing line.

Tory Burch Spring 2012

Vari­a­tions on this theme included the syn­co­pated pins dot­ting the looks at Milly and the charm­ingly kitschy neck­laces at Anna Sui — whimsy goes a long way to under­score sum­mer fun.

Anna Sui Spring 2012

At the other end of the rain­bow are the design­ers who incor­po­rate jew­elry into their run­way show as part and par­cel of their over­all aes­thetic. How sat­is­fy­ing is it to view each and every offer­ing at Oscar
de la Renta? There is always some­thing for every­one in his shows. While ODR is in the busi­ness of sell­ing fash­ion from top to toe, the jew­elry still speaks to the looks in an inti­mate, inte­gral way. Spring 2012 showed in won­der­fully prac­ti­cal shades of red, black, and white, what the designer has done best: dress­ing a woman, com­pletely and utterly. No need to worry about the details, love, we’ve done that for you.

Oscar de la Renta Spring 2012

One more note on color. I want to rec­om­mend a won­der­ful book about the jewelry-loving inte­rior dec­o­ra­tor, Muriel Bran­dolini. Her sense of hue and form for a room is no less breath­tak­ing than some fab­u­lous, glit­ter­ing cre­ation by jew­elry designer, James de Givenchy of Taf­fin. Funny how cre­ative minds think alike. Muriel owns and dis­plays sev­eral pieces of James’ delights in her new book, The World of Muriel Bran­dolini. Page after beau­ti­fully illus­trated page demon­strates just how color and tex­ture assem­ble a rhythm or mood in a room. It is an inspi­ra­tional read for the com­ing fall and win­ter so that by spring, when the first warm day comes along, you’ll be hued-up for anything.

The World of Muriel Brandolini